The Japan-UK Second Working Group on Digital Government On July 8 and 22, 2024
On October 31, 2022, Mr. Kono Taro, Minister for Digital Transformation and Mr. Tom Read, Chief Executive Officer for Government Digital Service (GDS) held a meeting at the Digital Agency and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of Digital Government. On that occasion, the first Working Group was held, where digital experts from GDS and the responsible at the Digital Agency exchanged views, shared practical and technical knowledge on the fields such as Human Resources, Procurement systems, Cashless Payments, Cloud Computing and Service Design, and conduced a workshop.
After the Working Group, both countries continued sharing their knowledge. On July 8 and 22, 2024, the second Working Group was held online between GDS, Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) , Cabinet Office and the Digital Agency.
The following is a summary of topics and exchange of opinions in the second Working Group that took place on July 8 and 22, 2024.
1. Procurement・Digital Marketplace
The Digital Agency explained the status of initiatives on the introduction of Digital Marketplace in Japan. Cabinet Office shared their knowledge through procurement reforms.
2. Government Cloud
The Digital Agency introduced the actual situation of migration both in central government and local governments to the Government Cloud. CDDO provided updates on the UK’s Government Cloud Strategy.
3.Digital Governance
The Digital Agency explained how continuous improvement of PMO (Portfolio Management Office) governance has contributed to expenditure control and introduced cases of expenditure reduction. CDDO shared their knowledge about priority setting based on expenditure analysis.
4. Service Design
The Digital Agency introduced projects to improve UI (User Interface) for Ministries and Agencies with conducting project management and evaluation. GDS shared their approach to service design across the organisation including service design process.
These achievements demonstrate tangible progress in the MoC, which focuses on the fields such as digital procurement reform and is aimed at mutual cooperation to improve the initiatives of digital transformation for both countries.
Both countries intend to organize an expert meeting again in 2024 to continue sharing their best practices and promote cooperation based on the MoC.